Beeswax-extractor.



Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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O. L. HERSHISER.

BBESWAX BXTRACTOR.

APPLICATION I'ILIID APR. 13, 1907. 91 3,889

Witnesses TME NaRRls FErER: co., wAsmNcroN, nA c.

o. L. HERSHISBR. BEESWAX BXTRAGTOR.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1907.

Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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fm: mmm: Ps1-Rs co., wAsHmaroN. n. c.

OREL L. HERSHISER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

BEESWAX-EXTRACTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 2, 1909.

Application filed April 13, 1907. Serial No. 868,123.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OREL L. Hnnsmsnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Buffalo, county of Erie, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Beeswax Extractors, of whlch the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in beeswax extractors.

The objects of this invention are, rst, to provide a simple and efficient means and process for extracting beeswax from the beecomb. Second, to provide an improved construction for the efficient delivery and separation of the wax from cheeses of beecomb.

Other obj ects relating to the details of the structure will appear from the full description to follow.

I accomplish the objects of my invention by the devices and means described in the following specification.

The invention is clearly defined and pointed out in the claims.

A structure embodying the features of my invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, in which,-

Figure 1 is a front elevation view of my im roved beeswax extractor. Fig. 2 is an e arged vertical sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a pers ective detail view of the se arator racks or rames in use between the c eeses of bee-comb. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view of the water filling connections taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the box within which the cheeses of bee-coinb are formed. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the bottom rack placed within the boiler and press.

In the drawing, similar numerals of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views, and all of the sectional views are taken looking in the direction of the little arrows at the ends of the section lines.

For the better understanding of this specification, the following definitions are given: Beeswax is the natural wax secretion of the honey bee bee-comb is the cells formed from beeswax by the honey-bee in which it stores honey and pollen and rears its young 5 slumgum is a newly coined word which has been generally accepted by apiarists to desi nate the refuse or residue remaining after t e beeswax has been separated from the bee-comb. This residue is composed of the cast off cocoons in the cells of the bee-comb from which young bees have hatched, ollen which the bees gather from flowers an store with which to feed their young, propolis or bee-glue, and any other foreign materials.

Considering the numbered parts of the drawing, a boiler 1, square or rectangular in form, is provided, the bottom being preferably riveted and soldered in place, which, besides its use in holding the water and beecomb or slumgum, serves as the guiding means for the follower and separating or division racks laced between the cheeses or bee-comb or s umgum. This boiler also constitutes the press frame, being constructed of very strong sheet metal, the operator is enabled to safely apply the maximum pressure required for the extraction of the wax. Across the top of this boiler is a beam 6, the ends of which extend through loops 2 2 at opposite sides of the boiler.

The boiler is provided at one end and on the outside with a funnel 3, opening on the inside at 15, into the bottom thereof, for the purpose of introducing hot water therein, the top of this funnel being nearly or quite on a level with the top of the boiler. A delivery spout 4 is provided near the top of the boiler for drawing off the wax after the same has been melted and expressed from the slumgum.

5 is a cock for drawing the water out of the boiler. The boiler and its contents are heated by means of a stove or any other suitable means.

Through the beam 6 is introduced a screw 7 engaging suitable screw-threaded bushing therein. The screw is provided with a handle and exerts pressure downward on the follower 10, which is substantially the size of the inside horizontal .dimension of the boiler 1.

In the bottom of the boiler 1 is placed a rack or grate S, consisting of s aced steel or metal bars on edge, over wliic is placed a woven wire screen 11. On this is placed a cheese 12 of bee-comb or slumgum after the same has been made in proper form in the cheese-box 14, provided for the purpose, and being wrapped and secured in a wrapping cloth 13, preferably of coarsely woven burlap cloth, as there indicated, the burlap wrappings also being indicated in Fig. 2. On top of this bottom cheese is placed a division rack, preferably of wood, consisting of crossed slats 9, on the top and bottom of which are secured woven ,wire screens 11, clearly indicated in Fig. 3. 'The cheeses 12, preferably three in number, and the slatted Wooden screen covered frames, called division racks, 16, alternate until the to` is reached, when the follower l() is place on top of the uppermost cheese, this follower bemg provide with cross slats 9 covered with woven wire screen 11 on its under side.

In operation, the extractor is rst sup lied with sufficient water to prevent the Eheat from injuring the bottom of the boiler, after which it is placed on 'a stove or other suitable means -of heating, and the cheeses of bee-comb or slumgum placed therein, as indicated in Fig. 2. The boiler is then lled with water to nearly the level of the delivery spout 4, after which the whole is brought to a sharp boil. Owing to the peculiar con- .struction of the division racks 16 of crossed slats 9 covered with woven wire screen l1, the water is free to circulate between the layers of bee-comb or slumgum and, when boiled, melts every particle of wax contained therein. These cheeses 12, owing to the resence of the burlap cloth covering in whic they are wrapped, and the screen covered division racks 16, cannot pass up or down between the slatted frames therein, but the wax, when melted, readily passes through the lspaces in the division racks and escapes in this way, rising `and floating on the surface of the water, where, by means of raising the level of the contents :of the extractor by filling in hot water through the funnel 3 the wax may be readily and cleanly drawn off. In pressing, the :screw is turned down gently at iilst, the gradual pressure ermitting the wax and water to escapey from the cheeses. After the screw has been turned ndown as far 'as it will go with modfso cleanly that only a tra-ce will be left in the slumgum, each successive pressing turning the screw 'down 'a little farther. comb, being lighter than Water kand the cheeses being comparatively thin and separated :each from the Iother by the intervening body of water, unlimited facili-.ties

for `absorption fare thus aif-zorded. Thus the relations each to the other lof some of the important physical properties of water, `wax and slumgum enable me, by the aid of my wax extractor, to literally Wash the wax cleanly out of the refuse without in the least impairing its quality.

To form the cheeses 12, a box 14, without top or bottom, is provided, the same being a little larger on the lower than on the upper plane, in order that it may be easily slipped olf from 'the cheese after it is formed. Lay this cheese box on a plain surface, preferably a floor of wood or cement. Spread the burlap cheese-cloth 13 over it, so it will project uniformly from the four sides of the cheese box, and then press it evenly down so it will Viit snugly against the four inner sides of the box. Now ll in the bee-comb or slurngum, tamping it down solid. When the cheese is filled even with the top of the box, fold the cloth from two of its opposite sides and fasten; then fold it from the two remaining sides and fasten. The cheese, still with-in the box, may now be placed in the extractor boiler and the box lifted off. Another method of forming the cheese is to melt the bee-comb in another boiler; then place the cheese box 14 on a division rack 16 over the boiler 1, allowing one edge of the division rack to rest lon one edge of the extractor boiler 1 and supporting the other end of the said division rack by a cross-piece of wood, the latter resting on said boiler 1, so that the drip, when forming the cheese, will fall in the said extractor boiler. Now form the cheese by dipping the melted slumgum, wax and water into the burla-p vcloth-lined cheese-box .14 until it is full, no tamping being required, and fasten the burlap cloth about the cheese, as above described, and lower it into the boiler 1.

All bee-comb is rich in bees-wax, the quantity varying from thirty per cent. upward according to the amount of foreign impurities con-tained therein. New comb in which .bees have not been reared or pollen stored is approximately one hundred per cent. pur-e.

Oft repeated :and carefully executed experiments have demonstrated that any of the wax presses heretofore made and used will necessarily leave in the :slumegum a large amount of wax. The fault, however, is not that of insutlicient pressure, but because capillary attraction holds a portion @of the wax-in :the'slumgum with the moisture which no amorunt'of pressure will expel. Also the process yof subjecting a mass of .slu-mgum to great pressure .results in ren-dering its surface extremely hard and compact., which Agreatly impedes the escape of the wax 'from the less compressed interior portions. The thicker the mass thegg-reater will be the proportion thereof .not :subjected to the pressure re- -quire'd to expel the wax and the `greater will be the distance the wax -must move to beicome free therefrom. 'lo A,overcome these obstructive -zeiects :a radical :departure from.

the ordinary and customary methods of coinpression is necessary, the specific object being to displace with water the wax which is thus held in capillary attraction.

lf you will saturate a sponge with coloring matter which is capable of being washed out, and subject it to pressure, it will be found that no amount of squeezing will remove all the color. Saturate it with water and squeeze again and more of the coloring matter will be removed, and, if the process of saturating with water and squeezing be repeated several times, all the coloring matter will be expelled. It has been washed out. Likewise, in a very similar manner, if a mass of bee-comb be subjected to boiling water,

the wax contained therein will melt andv water and wax may be squeezed out, but no amount of pressure will remove all of the water and wax from the slumgum or residue of the bee-comb, which acts as a sponge and holds a portion of the wax and water in a giant grip. But, let the mass of slumgum be saturated with hot water vagain and the squeezing repeated, and, as the hot water is expelled, it will bring out with it a portion of the remaining wax. lf the process of intermittent pressure and saturation with hot water is several times repeated, all the wax kwill be expelled and the slumgum will hold only water in capillary attraction. Again, the specific gravity of wax being less than that of water, if we do our pressing under the surface of hot water, the wax, as it is separated from the slumgum, will rise and float on the surface of the water. Further, if the mass of bee-comb or sl-umgum is comparatively thin, as the process of extracting appreaches completion, the wax will have but a short distance to move to become free therefrom, and, by applying intermittent pressure while immersed in hot water, the washing process, as exemplified in the case of the sponge, will be employed.

It is obvious that the methods heretofore in use locked up within the slumgum large quantities of wax, as it were, in a strong safe, requiring a certain but simple combination to open and release it into our possession. That combination embracing the application of scientifically correct principles as above pointed out, is fully comprehended in my wax press.

The operation of the device is exceedingly simple. The cheeses, at first, being of much less specific gravity than water, would float if not held down by the slatted frames and follower, which, however, retains each cheese in its respective position. By this arrangement every particle of slumgum is exposed to the action of the hot water which circulates through the mass in the process of boiling and pressing, insuring the ready movement of Wax out from between the cheeses and to the surface from which it is drawn on as described. The mass of se )arated cheeses immersed in water is readily heated to a boil and the press is worked down and up repeatedly. As the pressure forces the water out of the cheeses the wax is carried with it. l/fhen pressure is released the mass of slumgum absorbs the hot water, like a sponge, which forces with it out of the cheese more of the remaining wax with each successive pressing until the operation is finished when only a slight trace, if any, of the wax will reiain in the sluingum. The operation is quickly, easily and cleanly performed.

l have illustrated the device in a very simple form, the details of which I have found to be very practical for use, but I desire to remark that the same can be considerably varied without departing from my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what l claim as new and desire to secure by Let-l ters Patent is: ff

1. ln a wax extractor, the combination of the boiler constituting the press frame 1;

the supporting rack on the bottom thereof consisting of spaced strips on edge with wire screen over the same; racks made up of spaced crossed pieces with wire screen above and below the same for separating the cheeses of slumgum; a follower with cross-strips on its face with a wire screen beneath; a screw secured to a detachable cross beam at the top of the boiler for applying pressure to the said followers within the same; a funnel opening into the bottom of the boiler for filling the same with water; a spout delivering from the top of the same for drawing off the expressed wax whereby the boiler serves as the press frame; and a cock at the bottom of the boiler for drawing off the water, coacting substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

2. ln a wax extractor, the combination of the boiler constituting the press frame 1; the supporting rack on the bottom thereof consisting of spaced strips on edge with wire screen over the same; racks made up of spaced crossed pieces with wire screen above and below the same for separating the cheeses of slumgum; a follower with cross-strips on its face with a wire screen beneath; a screw secured to a detachable cross beam at the top of the boiler for applying pressure to the said followers within the same; a funnel opening into the bottom of the boiler for filling` the same with water g and a spout delivering from the top of the same for drawing oflthe expressed wax whereby the boiler serves as the press frame, co-acting substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

3. In a wax extractor, the combination of a boiler constituting the press frame 5 a press for applying pressure to the contents of the said boiler within the same; a bottom consisting of spaced strips; a follower with spaced cross strips; a metallic screen arranged above the bottom strips; and a screen arranged beneath the slats on the follower, coacting for the purposespecifled.

4. In a Wax extractor, the combination of a boiler constituting the press frame; a suitable press; and separator frames for the cheeses of slumgum consisting of suitable spaced crossed slats, with metallic screenl above and beneath the same `whereby o en 10 spaces are formed for circulation, as speci ed.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the presence of two Witnesses.

OREL L. HER'SHISER..

Witnesses:

L. WM. GAMMON, LEROY N. KILINAN. 

